A vimana is a Sanskrit word with several meanings ranging from temple or palace to mythological flying machines described in Sanskrit epics. Some modern UFO enthusiasts (like Desmond Leslie, co-author with George Adamski, in 1953, of one of the first books on UFOs entitled Flying Saucers Have Landed) have pointed to the Vimana as evidence for advanced technological civilizations in the distant past, or as support for ancient astronaut theories. Others have linked the flying machines to the legend of the Nine Unknown Men. Many researchers into the UFO enigma tend to overlook a very important fact. While it assumed that most flying saucers are of alien, or perhaps Governmental Military origin, another possible origin of UFOs is ancient India and Atlantis. Informations about Ancient Indian flying vehicles comes from ancient Indian sources; written texts that have come down to us through the centuries. There is no doubt that most of these texts are authentic; many are the well known ancient Indian Epics themselves, and there are literally hundreds of them. Most of them have not even been translated into English yet from the old Sanskrit.

The Indian Emperor Ashoka started a Secret Society of the Nine Unknown Men: great Indian scientists who were supposed to catalogue the many sciences. Ashoka kept their work secret because he was afraid that the advanced science catalogued by these men, culled from ancient Indian sources, would be used for the evil purpose of war, which Ashoka was strongly against, having been converted to Buddhism after defeating a rival army in a bloody battle.

The Nine Unknown Men wrote a total of nine books, presumably one each. Book number one was The Secrets of Gravitation!. This book, known to historians, but not actually seen by them dealt chiefly with gravity control. It is presumably still around somewhere, kept in a secret library in India, Tibet or elsewhere (perhaps even in North America somewhere). One can certainly understand Ashokas reasoning for wanting to keep such knowledge a secret, assuming it exists. If the Nazis had such weapons at their disposal during World War II, Ashoka was also aware devastating wars using such advanced vehicles and other futuristic weapons that had destroyed the ancient Indian Rama Empire several thousand years before.

Few years ago, the Chinese discovered some Sanskrit documents in Lhasa, Tibet and sent them to the University of Chandrigarh to be translated. Dr. Ruth Reyna of the University said recently that the documents contain directions for building interstellar spaceships! Their method of propulsion, she said, was anti-gravitational and was based upon a system analogous to that of laghima, the unknown power of the ego existing in mans physiological makeup, a centrifugal force strong enough to counteract all gravitational pull.

According to Hindu Yogis, it is this laghima which enables a person to levitate. Dr. Reyna said that on board these machines, which were called Astras by the text, the ancient Indians could have sent a detachment of men onto any planet, according to the document, which is thought to be thousands of years old. The manuscripts were also said to reveal the secret of antima, the cap of invisibility and garima, how to become as heavy as a mountain of lead.